Chapter 1 Aspects of H.

C Reservoir
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Chapter 1

Aspects of H.C Reservoir

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Chapter 1 Contents
1.1 Geology of Reservoir Rocks
1.1.1 Origin of Sedimentary Rocks
1.1.2 Fines to Solid (Diagenesis)
1.1.3 Rock Types
1.1.4 Origin of Oil

1.2 Oil Reservoir Structures

1.3 Parameters Controlling Fluid Flow

1.3.1 Porosity
1.3.2 Permeability

1.4 Reservoir Drive Mechanisms

1.4.1 Natural Water Drive
1.4.2 Dissolved Gas Drive
1.4.3 Gas Cap Drive
1.4.4 Combination Drives and Water Injection
1.4.5 Flood Patterns

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Chapter 1

Aspects of H.C Reservoir

1.1 GEOLOGY OF RESERVOIR ROCKS
1.1.1 Origin of Sedimentary Rocks

Even that occurred millions of years ago are still occurring today, one has only look
at the seashores and the deep sea sediments to see how rock was deposited during
geological time. This sequence of events has enabled geologists to accurately define
the historical passage of time, as seen within the rocks on the earth’s surface, and as
brought up in cores from the thousands of wells drilled on the planet’s surface.

It was about 4,500 million years ago that the surface of the earth began to solidify out
of the condensed molten rock. From then, volcanic activity slowly mudded the
surface of the plant until sufficient solidification had occurred to enable other
processes to take over the formation of solid material on the surface.

Wind was responsible for picking up surface material and transporting it to other
places. In so doing, it caused erosion of grains against each other to make fines
material.

The wind transported the material to “bowl areas" where deserts began to form.
Alternatively, the wind-born fines were blow out to sea and settled as a continuous
film of dust like material over the sea bottom surrounding the land.

In the deserts the extremes of temperature, together with the erosion of wind blown
material slowly attacked the bedrock and caused additional fines and breakdown of
solidified crystalline rocks, this rock debris then become available for further
movement and deposition in other areas.

All this happened millions of years ago, but is still happening today in the large
desert areas of the world. For example in North Africa , wind and temperature are
slowly changing, with uncontrollable certainty, the coastlines and inland areas of
Libya, Tunisia and other surrounding parts of the Sahara desert. The dust grains
being deposited today will be the consolidated rock of tomorrow, geologically
speaking.

There are other forces at work to provide the vast sedimentary basins of geological
history. Rivers and glaciers gouge vast grooves out of solid rock across with them
flow. The rivers rapidly transport solids to the sea where they are deposited as
gigantic deltaic fans of material. Alternatively, the river may transport material into
inland basins where again thick sediments begin to build-up.

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Glaciers have left their mark over vast areas of the Northern and Southern
Hemisphere. Even today large masses of debris are being slowly transferred from
higher places to lower places.

Gravity has been ever present; from the moment the first galactic elements spun
together to eventually condense into the bodies of our solar system. We see gravity
now irrevocably transferring material to lower basins, be it above or below sea level.
If it were not for the continual earth movements and upheavals that heave been
actively changing the shape of this plant, then earth would by now be virtually flat.
Indeed, in areas where little activity occurs in the form mountain building
mechanisms, it is easy to see that already the geomorphology, or shape of the land, is
heading towards pleasant rolling lowlands.

However, one of the greatest eroding mechanisms that exist is the sea itself.
Covering two thirds of our plant’s surface it has steadily been attacking the land
masses and carrying the broken rock particles back out to sea, where it has deposited
them, along with all the other debris brought to it by rivers, winds and glaciers.

1.1.2 Fines to Solids (Diagenesis)

The transported, broken down material has slowly built up in basins of the deserts,
courses of bygone rivers, or beneath sea beds. There are other mechanisms, such as
volcanic lava outflows and injected molten rocks, but these are not of great interest to
the oil industry certainly insofar as source rocks and oil field reservoirs are
concerned.
The fine material compacts and the surrounding fluid material are in water or air is
slowly squeezed out as the grains are buried deeper. Pressure and increasing
temperature with depth may even change the shape of the sedimentary debris, such
that the spaces between the grains decrease with the changing grain shapes.
Diagenesis now begins to occur, that is the changes from individual rock detritus
grains into solid rock. No longer do the grains act individually, as the grains of sand
in an egg timer or running through our fingers on the sea shore. Instead heat, pressure
and interstitial fluids now cause them to come together to form a solid rock. What
were once individual eroded grains of rock have now remolded to from potential oil
reservoir rock.
Associated with diagnosis is the continual movement of fluids through the spaces or
pores between the grains. Generally this fluid is water containing dissolved salts in
different concentrations. Clearly, if the grains of the rock are laid down on the sea
bed, then the water initially associated with the grains is the sea water itself, and the
grains at that time are water wet. As the sediments sink under the overlying
sediments, the properties of the associated waters tend to change.

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This is partly because the dissolved salts within the water have undergone chemical
reaction either with the sediments or have precipitated out as cementing material
associated with diagnosis.
Thus rock originally laid down underwater tends to be water wet. That is water is in
direct contact the rock grains. Occasionally a reservoir rock is termed “oil-wet”–
where oil is the fluid in direct contact with the rock grains. It can be easily seen that
a rock originally laid down under desert conditions, or wind blow "Aeolian"
conditions, is unlikely to have sea water or even surface waters directly associated
with the grains. Under such contortions it is easy to envisage that oil could be the
first liquid to come in direct contact with the rock. This is not the only way, however,
that a normally "water wet rock" could become "oil wet".

1.1.3 Rock Types

So far, we have discussed the main methods of depositions of inorganic sedimentary

rock. The grains that have gone to makeup this rock have originated by abrasion,
decomposition, leaching, erosion or other atmospheric contribution. The rock of
origin or parent rock may have been other sedimentary rocks or volcanic or
crystalline rock; the strict geological term for such sedimentary beds is the "Clastic
Rock ".

1.1.3.1 Clastic Rocks

Clastic rocks result from the build-up, via deposition of fragments spilt from existing
rocks by the progress of weathering and erosion.

1.1.3.2 Non-clastic Rocks

So far we have not discussed the second most important rock types, the non-clastic
Rocks. They are classified on their chemical composition, and may be broadly
classified as limestones. They cover the rocks which originate generally by
precipitation from salt saturated sea and inland waters. The more common non-
clastic rocks are the carbonates dolomites, silicates, carbonaceous rock, ferruginous,
and evaporate rock.

1.1.4 Origin of Oil

Although oil as we find it today has not yet been satisfactorily simulated in the
laboratory, there is now a fair understanding of the mechanisms involved.
For the past 600 million years the sea had been abundant with marine lift. The micro-
organisms found today existed extensively, if in different from, throughout
geological time. These minute organisms contain large amounts of body fasts. When
dead, they drop to the sea bed and are steadily buried, where their body cells rupture
and the organic material is liberated.

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Over million of years this vast amount of organic material, under the influences of
pressure and perhaps temperature, was slowly converted into the oil we fined today.
The source rock from which the oil originated is quite often far apart from the rock in
which the oil collects. Even at thousands of feet in depth, oil floats in water. The oil
probably migrated away as a slowly moving “fog” of hydrocarbon disseminated
throughout the fluids in the pores of the rocks, and moved upwards until trapped in
reservoir structures.

All the main types of sedimentary rock can provide storage space for hydrocarbons,
depending on their physical characteristics. Ninety nine percent of all hydrocarbons
are found in sedimentary rock, and thus a basic understanding of their means of
origin, and what they now are, is essential to the Petroleum Engineer.

1.2 OIL RESERVOIR STRUCTURES

There are three basic requirements for an oil reservoir:
1. Cap Rock
2. Permeable Structure
3. Hydrocarbon Source
The cap rock generally is an impermeable layer, or isolating barrier, which prevents
the easy flow fluids. Beneath or against this layer, oil may accumulate in the pores
between the grains in permeable rock.

There are many potentially good reservoir traps, but the pore space is filled entirely
with water. The simple reason for this is that subsurface fluid movement has not
brought about any influx of oil. A source rock, where oil has originally formed, is
essential, before migration can occur into an oil trap. Migration may actually be
prevented by a cap rock and under such conditions the oil accumulates in-situ, and
thus source rock also becomes the reservoir rock.

As already mentioned, oil once formed will tend to move, either by compaction and
pressure squeezing, movement of surrounding rock waters, or simply by fluid density
difference .

Generally the movement is upwards until it becomes trapped under a cap rock. The
simplest and most common type of trap is the anticlinal or dome trap (Figure 1.1).

The anticlinal shape of the filed can be formed from a number of causes. Earth
movements, due to compression forces can cause a corrugated effect in the earth’s
sediments. Perfect examples of such structures are the numerous North West - South
East running anticlines in Iran at the northern end of the Arabian Gulf.

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The movement of salt, or other rocks, which can act as fluid under pressure can also
result in an up welling of shallower rocks. These domes thus formed tend to be quite
circular and are ideal traps for migrating oil. A number of North Sea fields were
formed by such a mechanism.

Figure 1.1 Typical Anticlinal Oilfield Trap

Figure 1.2 shows typical cross sections of other oilfield structures. Faulting often
results in the intrusion into the fault face of secondary cementing materials, which
are impermeable. This face then offers an ideal layer against which hydrocarbons can
accumulate. Unconformities brought about by the erosion of a tilled rock sequence,
followed by the covering of horizontal impermeable sediments, also offer an ideal
trap.

Often accumulations result from a combination of these and other traps. Simple
permeability variations within the same reservoir rock can sometimes be potential
reservoirs. Trap combinations increase the complexity of discovering and producing
oil reservoirs.

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A. Trap Fault

B. Unconformity Trap

Figure 1.2 Common Oil Traps

1.3 PARAMETERS CONTROLLING FLUID FLOW

Because of the very natural of deposition of rock and its very variable origin, every
cubic inch of every reservoir can be different. This heterogeneity continually causes
problems in the prediction of reservoir performance. There are, however, one or two
basic characteristics which are measured by one means or another, either on a micro
or macro scale. Each has its advantage, even though micro and macro results can be
very different.

This section deals briefly with the two main characteristics which must be known
before oil recovery or water flooding predictions can be made.

1.3.1 Porosity

The porosity is a measurement of the amount of pore space in a rock of know total
rock volume which is not composed of solid mineral (Figure 1.3), and is denoted by
the Greek symbol ø.

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There are three common types of porosity; effective, non-effective (or isolated) and
total porosity. The effective porosity is the percentage of the total volume of pores
that are interconnected, thus sometimes called interconnected porosity. The non-
effective porosity is of little interest to the petroleum engineer as it represents the
volume of the pores which are not connected, and therefore cannot allow fluid flow.
Generally, the non-effective porosity is about 5 % or less of the total porosity. The
total porosity is the sum of the effective and non-effective porosity.

If a porosity value is applied to a reservoir rock it refers to the effective porosity.

Figure 1.3 Rock Characteristics

Void Space
Total Porosity = %
Bulk Volume

1.3.2 Permeability

Permeability is a measure of the ability of fluid to flow through a rock. It is

theoretically a measure of a rock property only and fluid which flows through the
interconnecting pores. A fluid will only flow when the pressure in one part of
formation is higher than another.

Henry Darcy , Studying the flow of water through unconsolidated sand filter beds ,
found that the flow increased in proportion to the pressure difference , but also
depended on the “ thickness “ or viscosity of the fluid. Permeability is given the
symbol "k" and Figure 1.4 describes its derivation.

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Figure 1.4 Permeability

(Darcy Equation)
Where:
K = Permeability – Darcies
q = Volumetric flow rate – ml/sec
L = Length of rock – cm
μ = Fluid viscosity – centipoises
A = Cross sectional area of the rock–cm2
P1– P2 = Pressure drop across length L– atmospheres

Permeability is measured in Darcies, although reservoir values are normally

expressed in thousandths of a Darcy, and the unit is called the millidarcy (md).
Values for typical reservoirs rang between 5-500 mds, with occasionally higher
permeabilities.

So often in oil reservoirs more than one type of fluid is present. Thus, when one fluid
only is present the value is known as the specific permeability. If the rock is water
wet (often occupying about 20% of the pore space) and oil flows through the rock,
then the oil permeability is known as the effective permeability "k" of oil. These two
permeabilities are combined as a ratio to provide a relative permeability.

ko Effective permeability of oil

k ro = =
k Specific permeability

One must remember that the specific permeability should be independent of the fluid
used.

The above relationship can be similarly defined for gas and water. Further, we can
see that the relative permeability can vary from zero at low saturations to unity at
100% saturation. The relationship enables us to construct relative permeability
curves to provide information about fluid flow in reservoirs when different fluids are
displacing others – ( say water displacing oil ) – see Figure 1.5.

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Referring to Figure 1.5, the wetting phase has zero, or very low, permeability below
about 20% and this value is the irreducible water saturation. As the water saturation
increases, the oil permeability is drastically reduced, and at about 50 % water
saturation the total permeability is only about one third of the specific permeability.
Above about 80% water saturation the oil phase is virtually immovable.

Figure 1.5 Oil/Water Relative Permeability

Figure 1.6 A&B indicates graphically how the relative permeability curves are
developed during a waterflood. Initially approximately 20% immobile water is
present and the oil produces as dry oil at a production well (Figure 1.6A). As the
water saturation increases, the water permeability begins to rise and oil and water
will be produced. Water need not fill a pore channel to form a continuous path, and
thus the water does not tend to block off large oil filled pores at the lower saturations.
At higher saturations (Figure 1.6B) the oil phase forms insular globules and the oil
flow virtually ceases.

It is important to understand that the relative permeability curves are not unique
function of fluid saturation, but depend also on the distribution of the fluid. Gas- oil
relative permeability curves can depend on how the gas is formed in the rock pores.
Similarly the wettability of rock, and also the direction of saturation change, will
affect water distribution and hence the relative permeability to oil in an oil / water
system.

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A B
Figure 1.6 Development of Fluid Displacement during Water Injection
Permeability Problems
The reservoir engineer’s lift would be a great deal easier if all reservoirs were
homogeneous. Unfortunately, this is almost never the case. Nearly all reservoirs have
ranges of permeabilities. This makes the decision for water quality requirements and
management of the injection flood front all the harder.
Water break-though at producers very often occurs because of the more permeable
streaks allowing rapid water front movement. If the permeable streak is at the top of
a formation there is a good chance that gravity segregation will assist a fairly uniform
front. However, if the permeable zones are near the bottom of the formation, them a
non-uniform flood front is likely, and break – through may well be premature.
Consequently, the completion and control of the injection well profile is very
important. Some operators may prefer not to perforate a high permeability channel.
This may work if vertical permeability is poor, but if this is not the case, then water
is likely to rapidly find its way into the high permeability zones. Other attempts at
control are cementation squeezing of the high permeability channels, or polymer /
Chemical control. Unfortunately, no definite remedy is available. Every field has to
be looked at on its merits, and even then, very often no satisfactory answer will be
found.

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1.4 RESERVOIR DRIVE MECHANISMS

For movement of fluid through a reservoir rock, there must be a pressure differential
across the length of a rock face. This pressure differential can be brought about
artificially, or can occur naturally, without any man- made interference.
Around a well-bore, when a well is allowed to flow, there tends to be a reduction in
pressure as fluids flow into the production tubulars. If the reservoir pressure,
resulting from the height of the fluid column, rock compression and reservoir fluid
movement, is greater than the pressure required to support the fluid column in the
well-bore, then the fluid should flow naturally from the wellhead.
As fluids are produced from the reservoir, a number of factors will influence the
remaining reservoir pressure as it being to decrease.
If the reservoir is entirely enclosed on all sides by an impermeable rock, then the
reservoir pressure is rapidly deleted purely by fluid expansion, and equilibrium
conditions will be rapidly obtained, with minimum amount of natural fluid
production.

If, on the other hand, there is a natural water drive, the produced fluids are rapidly
replaced, and the reservoir pressure need hardly decrease.

Thirdly, an artificial waterflood may be introduced at another well. This water serves
not only to maintain reservoir pressure, but also help sweep the hydrocarbons
towards the producer.

The physical properties of the rock will also control the fluid flow. All reservoirs are
heterogeneous and permeability alters both horizontally and vertically. However,
because of the method of horizontal deposition of the same type of rock at the same
geological time, beds over a lateral area tend to have similar permeabilities. Because
of this deposition, there are almost certain to be high permeability and low
permeability layers, varying in thickness.

The changing properties of the different layers may cause a variety of problems to
the downhole production engineer. A high permeability layer is likely to produce
more fluids, more rapidly than a low permeability layer. At the same time, however,
the more productive layer is likely to accept more injected water or natural aquifer
water. This will cause water break through at the producing well , often while vast
amounts of oil still exist within the tighter layers .This water break through brings
into the producing well heavier fluids , which in turn cause a heavier producing
column, more back pressure on the production formation and an eventual killing of
natural production .

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The production engineer has to get round these problems as best he can either by
attempting to control the injection fluid flood front by careful perforation of different
producing zones, or by chemical control.

Almost unquestionably a natural water drive is the most effective, and eventually
likely to produce maximum oil recovery. This unfortunately, is rarely more than
about 40% of the total oil-in-place in the reservoir Different drive mechanisms will
control the overall recovery. These drives are now briefly discussed.

1.4.1 Natural Water Drive

In permeable rock, over geological time, fluids are continually moving. These waters
may be continually replaced from nearby surface out – cropping rock layers, where
surface run off water enters the rock and seeps into the aquifers (artesian water
drive). Alternatively they may be moved through the deeper aquifer rocks by
overlying compaction or earth movements.

Since oil floats on water, when the water comes into contact with the hydrocarbons,
it will tend to support the oil column pressure rise from beneath the complete surface
of the oil water contact (OWC). Consequently , as oil is produced , the OWC will
move up remaining near horizontal (depending on reservoir characteristics already
discussed) and the overall recovery of the oil , and its displacement from the
reservoir pores will be high (Figure 1.7).

The natural water drive meanwhile will tend to maintain the overall reservoir
pressure, which may not drop more than 30%, or so, of the original pressure. SO long
as gas does not come out of solution during this pressure drop, the overall recovery
from a reservoir undergoing natural water drive may be as high as. 40–45% of oil-in-
place

Figure 1.7 Natural Water Drive

1.4.2 Dissolved Gas Drive

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If on other hand there is no natural water drive to help maintain reservoir pressure
and efficiently help flood the oil from the reservoir pores, then other mechanisms
occur naturally which help produce the oil.

Most oil accumulations have, or did have, gas dissolved in solution with the oil. This
gas will come out of solution when the reservoir pressure decreases - in much the
same way that a bottle of carbonated water will release carbon dioxide, with a certain
amount of forming when the pressure is released.

At the production well the pressure will rapidly decrease, until the saturation pressure
is the pressure at which gas will start coming out of solution. It is sometimes referred
to as the bubble point pressure. Form that time the amount of liquid oil that is
produced is very low, due to the relative permeability effects of the gas and oil.

The oil will tend to be isolated in large pockets, while the gas forms a continuous gas
passage to the production well bore. This gas path is fed by more gas breaking out of
solution away from the well bore and further isolating more oil.

Consequently, the reservoir pressure drops quickly related to the amount of oil
produced (Figure 1.8) and total production will rarely exceed 20% the initial oil – in
place. At the same time, the ratio of gas produced to oil (GOR) increases rapidly and
the value of the fluids produced at the wellhead is severely diminished.
Such a natural dissolved gas drive is very uneconomical, and should be avoided if at
all possible. The most commonly used method of avoiding this problem to carry out
an artificial water flood at a very early stage. If sufficient water is injected, related to
the total fluid off-take, then the saturation pressure may never be reached, and
theoretically the reservoir should behave in a very similar manner to that of the
natural water drive recovery mechanism.

Figure 1.8 Natural Dissolved Gas Drive

1.4.3 Gas Cap Drive

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It is not uncommon for a hydrocarbon accumulation to be associated with a gas cap,

Figure 1.9. This in itself will present completion problems. Gas coning into the
upper perforation tends to be a more common problem than water coning up to the
bottom perforation. Both however, should be prevented if at all possible.
Under a gas cap drive the gas tends to expand downwards as the oil is extracted and
the reservoir pressure decreases. If the vertical permeability was uniform across the
field and there were no high or low permeability streaks, then the gas oil contact
(GOC) would remain reasonably level, except at the well bores. As such, a
reasonable oil sweep might be expected. However, gas having a very low viscosity in
relation to oil will tend to finger rapidly, and oil is quickly left behind and becomes
unrecoverable.
Figure 1.9 shows that the total recovery under a gas cap drive tends to be about
midway between a natural dissolved gas drive and a natural water drive. Eventually,
of course, gas control will breakdown, and gas will either come down or break out of
solution around the well bore. This will then cause a high GOR and the rapid loss in
reservoir pressure for precious little extra oil recovery.

Figure 1.9 Gas Cap Drive

Figure 1.10 Drive Mechanism Pressure Trends

1.4.4 Combination Drive and Water Injection

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Rarely will just one reservoir drive mechanism occur alone. It is not unusual to have
a reservoir where all three natural mechanisms could. The decision to inject water is
nowadays often taken at a very early stage, after reservoir engineers have evaluated
the performance of a reservoir from a few early well tests.

Clearly if a reservoir can be kept above the bubble point even around a well bore,
then the overall recovery can be improved and the economics of development
perhaps justified .Sometimes, engineers will allow a reservoir to produce naturally
under a dissolved gas drive until the pressure has dropped considerably, but not down
to the bubble point. With a lower pressure, the power requirements to injected water
are probably decreased.

A natural water drive, to a greater or lesser extent, tends to be present in most

reservoirs. If to a lesser extent, then an artificial drive may be installed to support the
flood. If the natural water flood is limited because of poor vertical permeability
across the OWC, then there is of ten a need to injected at, or just above, the OWC?
If, however, there is simply not the water pressure beneath to support the intended oil
off take, then water is generally injected just below the OWC. As a rule of thumb, if
the aquifer support volume is 40 times that of the oil reservoir volume, then natural
water drive may be effective, assuming other characteristics are suitable.

1.4.5 Flood Patterns

The flood pattern defines the location and injection interval determined for each
particular oilfield. The type of pattern chosen is based on careful reservoir
engineering evaluation, often using complex models that will predict the overall
reservoir performance and expected oil recovery over the producing life of the field.

One of the most basic decisions required for a waterflood project, is whether to inject
above or below the OWC. This decision, besides being based on overall recovery
efficiency, must take into consideration the rock properties. Very often, because of
diagenesis, the pore sizes and cement type will differ across the OWC. Once oil has
migrated into a trap from its source rock, there is still a high chance that aquifer
water beneath the oil will carry on moving, the salinity slowly changes and
interaction between rock and interstitial fluids continue. This consequent can cause
the formation of clays beneath the OWC, and / or reduction in pore sizes by
additional cementation. Indeed, there is case where the permeability beneath the
OWC has been reduced so much that no pressure support is contributed by the
associated aquifer. Under such conditions but would provide no worthwhile recovery
anyway, because of lack of communication.

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The pattern flood configurations used by operators are numerous, ranging from the
straight forward line floods through spot configuration floods, to peripheral and even
unplanned floods. Some of the more common are now briefly discussed.

1.4.5.1 Peripheral Flood

This flood type is common in a dome accumulation, where water is injected around
the outside of an oil deposit, and down-dip. The decision to inject above or below the
OWC will have to be made. Very often as down –dip producers water out they are
re-completed as water injectors.

In the case of offshore fields, the peripheral flood often means that he water injection
wells are the most deviated. This will, of course, cause inherent problems with
drilling and logging, all of which must be taken into account in the planning stage.

Oil recovery by peripheral flooding is often very good. In fact, the Secondary
recovery process is tending to support or replace a natural rise in the OWC as the oil
is extracted from the up –dip areas of the dome.

1.4.5.2 Line Drive

Figure below shows the line drive configuration. This pattern is often adopted in
fairly flat thin homogenous sands. Water is injected into the oil zones and displaces
oil laterally in a line flood front towards the producers. As long as the basic required
reservoir parameters, already mentioned, are present then the process is reasonably
efficient. However, if there is a high permeability streak then premature
breakthrough may occur causing difficulty in achieving efficient recovery and
requiring complex completion controls.

1.4.5.3 Five-Spot

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This pattern is very often adopted for a pilot trial, before drilling the necessary infill
injection wells to carry out a total 5- spot field flood. Sometimes an operator may
prefer to inject to one well with 4 surrounding producers, as a pilot trial. This
configuration is called an inverted 5- spot, where the four surrounding producers all
gain advantage from the one injector.

A well laid out 5-spot pattern very often produces a good recovery, and the field is
efficiently produced. The disadvantage can be that the increased plateau production
period related to the water flood is fairly short lived before water breakthrough
(depending on the proximity of injector to producer) and of ten results in the
requirement for the early initiation of artificial lift.

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